Young Talent Drive Sustainability Innovations at Lothian Buses!
Young apprentices at one of capital city’s biggest employers address business-critical environmental issues through partnership with Powering Futures
Twelve young apprentices from the UK’s largest municipal bus company have successfully completed a groundbreaking 14-week innovation programme, where they have presented solutions to some of the most pressing sustainability challenges facing their place of work.
Lothian Buses, a major employer in the Capital with over 2,500 employees, tasked its young workforce with coming up with sustainable solutions to business operations - including recycling across the Lothian Buses Estate, and a campaign to encourage more people to take public transport.
Designed to complement an apprentice’s working week, the Powering Futures Business Challenge enables participants to use focused time to research the sustainability issue, interview stakeholders, develop a solution, and then present a business case to their company’s senior leadership team.
The bold and creative solutions that were put forward by the Lothian Buses apprentices included behaviour-focused campaigns to boost recycling - like clearer bin signage, visible recycling statistics, and prize incentives - and innovative ideas to encourage public transport use, from eye-catching campaigns on bus rears to AI-driven strategies for showcasing time savings.
Lothian Buses’ support for the Powering Futures programme is now in its second year, with eight apprentices successfully completing the programme in 2024.
Sarah Boyd, Managing Director at Lothian Buses said: “We are delighted to have worked with Powering Futures to take another 12 of our young apprentices through the Workplace Programme. Our Director team was inspired by the fresh thinking and confident delivery from the participants in their superb presentations.
“Having worked with Powering Futures to deliver the workplace programme for a second year, we are hugely impressed by the coaching which encourages participants to shine and celebrate their own individual strengths. It is a great reminder of the value in investing in early careers.”
Junior Davie (17), Lothian Buses Apprentice and participant in the Powering Futures programme said: “Working together to solve such a big challenge showed me how powerful teamwork can be. Once you've tackled something like that as a group, you feel more confident taking on whatever challenge comes next.”
The innovation programme was developed and delivered by Powering Futures, a pioneering provider of skills for the future and young workforce. Partnering with businesses to help them solve real-time climate change challenges, Powering Futures tasks teams of 16–25-year-olds with solving a sustainability problem set by their employer and supports them in coming up with creative solutions through teamwork and climate skills.
Joseph Trodden, Programme Manager at Powering Futures, said: "When you give young people the tools and trust to tackle real challenges, they deliver smart, practical solutions. I was particularly inspired by the campaign ideas around behaviour change. People often want to do the right thing when it comes to recycling and sustainability, these concepts show how we can make it easy, intuitive and even rewarding to take action."
The collaboration demonstrates how breakthrough solutions can originate from any level of an organisation when apprentices are engaged in strategic problem-solving, ensuring that fresh perspectives and innovative thinking remain central to business development.
William Hamilton, Operations Director at Lothian Buses, said: “The apprentices have come up with practical, low cost options which can make a big difference to our day-to-day sustainability. These are win-win solutions, and ones which we can take forward straight away.”